Mount Russell and Mount Carillon

June 28th, 2025 at 5:04 AMJohn Muir Wilderness (USFS), CA

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Info

Distance10 mi

Elevation gain6,200 ft

Duration9 hr

CruxClass 3

Route typeOut & back

Quality8/10

Vehicle to trailheadCar

RegionCentral Sierra Nevada

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Starting along the Old Mount Whitney Trail.

Joining the North Fork Lone Pine Creek Trail.

View back.

Approaching the E Ledges.

Exposed section of the E Ledges.

Climbing to the outlet of Lower Boy Scout Lake, top right.

View back.

Lower Boy Scout Lake.

A gentle, shaded section of trail along the perimeter of Lower Boy Scout Lake.

View back toward Lower Boy Scout Lake.

Ascending a series of slabs at the edge of Clyde Meadows.

Starting up a sandy chute toward Russell-Carillon Pass.

View back toward Clyde Meadow.

Picking up a use trail.

View back down the chute.

View toward Mount Irvine (left of center) and Mount McAdie (right), separated by the aptly named Arc Pass.

Approaching Russell-Carillon Pass. Mount Russell is on the left.

Closeup on Mount Whitney. Hardly visible to the naked eye, a party of climbers nears the top of the Mountaineer's Route (the snow-filled couloir).

Approaching the pass.

View back down the wide slope.

View of Tulainyo Lake from Russell-Carillon Pass.

Mount Russell's impressively sheer north face.

Starting up Mount Russell's east ridge.

Class 2.

View back toward the pass. From left to right, the three peaks surrounding the lake are Mount Tunnabora, The Cleaver, and Mount Carillon.

View back.

Class 2 ledge on the north side of the ridge.

View back.

Knife edge ridge.

View toward Mount Whitney.

View back along the knife edge.

Class 3 section.

View back at the exposure on the Class 3 section.

Approaching Mount Russell's east summit.

Gaining Mount Russell's east summit. The slightly taller west summit lies just a quarter mile ahead. Mount Whitney looms to the southwest.

View northwest.

View back.

Traversing to the west summit.

View back toward the east summit.

The route drops down to the north side of the ridge before climbing up the back side of the west summit.

Mount Russell west summit. View toward Mount Whitney.

Closeup on Mount Whitney's north face.

View west. Opposite Kern Canyon in the distance lies Mount Kaweah.

View east.

View north toward Wallace Lake. Mount Williamson, another 14er, is on the right.

Descending the Mount Russell's east ridge.

Carefully downclimbing the more exposed sections.

Returning to the Russell-Carillon Saddle.

Back at the saddle, starting up Mount Carillon's west ridge.

View back toward Mount Whitney (left) and Mount Russell (right).

Stiff Class 2 near the summit of Mount Carillon.

Mount Carillon summit. View east toward The Cleaver (left) and Gambler's Special (right of center).

View east toward Mount Russell.

View north toward Tulainyo Lake.

View southeast.

View southwest toward Mount Whitney.

Descending Mount Carillon's south slope.

Quick descent down the sandy chute to rejoin the North Fork Lone Pine Creek Trail.

Back on the trail, view toward Upper Boy Scout Lake (not visible).

View back up the slabs.

Descending to Lower Boy Scout Lake.

From Lower Boy Scout Lake, final view toward Mount Whitney.